{"id":200272,"date":"2026-03-11T19:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/200272\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T19:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:48:10","slug":"texas-football-db-graceson-littleton-readies-for-year-2-with-longhorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/200272\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas football DB Graceson Littleton readies for Year 2 with Longhorns"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a freshman on the Texas football<\/a> team,\u00a0Graceson Littleton found himself facing Ohio State<\/a>, Oklahoma and Georgia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Littleton found himself facing the media.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns defensive back Graceson Littleton (29) celebrates after making an interception for Texas in the fourth quarter of the Red River Rivalry, as the Sooners play the Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Oct. 11, 2025.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Littleton, a rising sophomore in the Texas secondary, participated in his first availability with local reporters after the Longhorns wrapped up their second practice of the spring. That gave Littleton his first chance to publicly reflect on his first year of college football.<\/p>\n

“I think last year was a great learning experience,” Littleton said. “It showed me what areas I need to work in. I think I do have a lot of things to work on.”<\/p>\n

MORE: Nine key questions as Texas begins spring practices<\/a><\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

So what exactly does he need to work on this offseason?<\/p>\n

“Everything, honestly,” Littleton said. “I’m not perfect in anything. I’m not great in anything, I wouldn’t say. I’m good, but there’s always room to grow in.”<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns defensive back Graceson Littleton (29) intercepts a pass during the Red River Rivalry between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday Oct. 11, 2025 in Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Graceson Littleton quickly stands out after arriving at Texas<\/p>\n

Recruited out of Tampa Fla., but raised in Kansas, Littleton made an immediate impact upon his arrival in Austin last season. A four-star prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle<\/a>, Littleton enrolled early and quickly became the talk of UT’s spring and preseason practices a year ago. He then earned playing time in the season opener at Ohio State and was starting by the second game.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Littleton eventually totaled 47 tackles, six pass breakups, two interceptions and two forced fumbles. He started eight times for Texas, which went 10-3 and closed out the season with a 41-27 win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE: Subscribe to the Statesman’s Texas sports newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

“I feel like Grayson has a really good mentality,” former UT edge rusher Ethan Burke<\/a> said during the 2025 season. “He’s looking to kill. He knows his job. He’s super confident. It’s not in an obnoxious way at all, but he’s confident in himself and he believes in himself.”<\/p>\n

Said former Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad<\/a>: “He plays hard, competitive, and (he’s) just got that dog mentality.”<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns defensive back Graceson Littleton (29) defends as Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood (19) runs the ball in the second quarter of the Citrus Bowl against the Wolverines at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, Dec. 31, 2025.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Could Texas line Graceson Littleton up elsewhere in its secondary?<\/p>\n

The 6-foot, 185-pound Littleton was mostly used as a nickelback his freshman year. According to Pro Football Focus, 495 of his 616 defensive snaps came in the slot. That number may change this fall.<\/p>\n

Texas coach Steve\u00a0Sarkisian<\/a> has said that new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp<\/a> favored versatility while coaching at Georgia. As an example, Sarkisian noted that former Bulldogs defensive back Malaki Starks, who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens, would sometimes be used as a safety on first and second downs but would then slide to nickelback on third downs and play man coverage.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

GOLDEN: Why Texas football’s new $3 million WR Cam Coleman is worth every penny<\/a><\/p>\n

“Surely you’re going to see Grayson do both. You’re going to see him playing some nickel, some corner,” Sarkisian said last month. “I think a lot of our guys, we’re going to try to develop them to do more than just being kind of one-trick ponies. The more they can do, the better it’s going to be for us long-term.”<\/p>\n

When asked if he prefers to play cornerback or nickelback, Littleton said he likes both spots. He enters the coming season with lofty expectations at both secondary spots and he said he’s looking forward to being tutored by\u00a0new cornerbacks\u00a0coach Mark\u00a0Orphey<\/a>, who recruited him while working at Rutgers.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

“My expectation is obviously to dominate in everything I do,” Littleton said. “I want to be the best. I want to excel in everything I do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a freshman on the Texas football team,\u00a0Graceson Littleton found himself facing Ohio State, Oklahoma and Georgia. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[261,79016,3232,266,3231,27,29,537,536,28,43696],"class_list":["post-200272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-football","tag-graceson-littleton","tag-sec-conference-football","tag-sec-football","tag-steve-sarkisian","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-news","tag-will-muschamp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}